Another Great Sunday!

We had 23 in attendance with four of our regulars out visiting family for Mother's Day. We had one person decide to follow the Lord in Baptism. Our first Baptism is scheduled for the second Sunday afternoon in June at Lake Brownwood. Stay tuned.

WOW! What an Easter

We had 10 in our sunrise services at Market Place, 17 in Morning Worship at Grace Pointe. After morning services, we had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids, had a wonderful fellowship lunch, and after taking everything down, I went home and had the nap of all naps!

Right now, through the magic of internet streaming, I'm listening to The Crossing, 96.5 KYXY-HD2 from San Diego. High-Definition Radio has allowed radio stations to add additional channels to one frequency. Many A/C stations are programming Christian content on their second and third channels. This is being done by major corporations, and I'm encouraged to be hearing this. KVIL 103.7 in Dallas programs Christian music on their HD2 channel, with a format called Rise-FM. There's also a station in Denver doing the same thing.

In Brownwood, we have a good Southern Gospel station, a Christian Rock station, but when it comes to contemporary and worship music (in the style of K-Love, KLTY, KVNE or KSWP) we're lacking.

Quick Mission: Brownwood update

We had 18 in Awana last night... 16 in morning services last Sunday. We are looking at the possibility of renting a vacant church building, starting sometime in the summer. Grace Pointe MBM has really progressed well over the past four months... I hope it continues!

Sweet 16!

We had 16 in attendance yesterday morning at Grace Pointe, with services being followed by a wonderful meal being cooked by Rosemary, Ron, and Jessica (who baked cookies!!!!)

I preached on the make-up of community, illustrating what a church should be doing from Acts 2:38-42. We'll wrap up the community series next Sunday with mission work from Acts 13. We'll then shift gears and the message series will be "Hope" in April, being built around Easter.

It's Only This Much Dangerous

We had 11 in morning services and collected $245 in offerings. Our big family was out with illness and one member had to work.

Members of the mission are diligently looking for land and facilities, but we are taking a slow, deliberate approach to finding a permanent location.

After services yesterday, my family and I went to the Enchanted Rock State Park, located between Llano and Fredericksburg on Texas Highway 16. The Enchanted Rock is a massive granite dome that formed as magma flowed up into the earth's crust sometime after creation, and was later exposed after the flood waters receded and washed away the soil. It's a .6 mile hike from the base of the rock to the summit, and the view is breathtaking.

On the way back down, we lost the trail, and wound up following several smaller paths. One ended at a pile of boulders (the boulders had fallen from the dome over a span of several centuries). It was a 20-30 foot downward climb, so I refused to attempt the climb. So we backtracked and found a shorter climb down, 10-15 feet. I initially refused this one as well, but Jessica took a closer look, determined that all five of us could do this climb, and, holding her hands about shoulder length apart, proclaimed "It's only this much dangerous." Now, how do you argue with that logic! We climbed down and made it safely.

As we returned to the van, we were graced by the presence of a herd of deer. They evidently thought that we would feed them. Good times.

It's SUNDAY!!!!

I do believe that Sundays are my favorite day of the week, for it is on Sunday that I get to go to worship, draw encouragement from my fellow believers, preach the word, and see the fruits of God's working.

We had 14 in morning worship this morning. I gave the congregation some future options regarding a meeting place, to which they all agreed our proper course of action is to purchase some property and put a temporary structure (portable building) on it until we can afford to build. This is going to be interesting.

Praise God

We had 11 in services this morning, this in the face of one rather large family being out with the flu, and one regular being on vacation this week.

Of those that are being faithful in their attendance, I am noticing some rapid spiritual growth. So far, things are going very well at Grace Pointe.

Awanas kick off Tuesday night.

Great Sunday

We had 17 in morning services as I preached on Spiritual Progression from Matthew 4:12-25, talking about how God wants us to repent of our sins and trust Christ for salvation, how He wants us to follow Jesus and be fishers of men.

We then had a fellowship lunch, then had a meeting to organize our youth programs for Tuesday evenings.

My goal of having a core group established by June is coming along nicely. The core is starting to emerge, but I won't declare "mission accomplished" on this step until the core becomes stronger, either by adding another family or two, or by attendance becoming more consistent.

Once the core group is established, we will then begin working toward "launch," which will be a highly publicized Sunday Service designed to make a huge impact on the Brownwood community. The core that helps us with launch will be responsible for bringing new families into the work and helping us become self-supporting by June 2011.

So, things are moving right along. While we are still on pace to meet the self-imposed deadlines on this new work, many in the mission, myself included, want to see us finish ahead of schedule. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Midweek report

Our Tuesday youth night at Brownwood Phase II continues to be a dissappointment as we only had five in attendance again. Market Place holds steady with 14 in attendance. Last night, I preached Divine Comfort from Isaiah 40.

I am encouraged today, because I think God will bless us with good attendance Sunday. I am working the fields today, tomorrow and Saturday in hopes of boosting attendance. As our attendance increases, so are the chances for additions. Last week, we had one first time visitor, and one repeat visitor. I really want Grace Pointe's attendance to be pushing 30 by mid-summer. That's my desire, and I'll work for it. However, God will add to His flock in His time.

Sunday results

We had 11 in morning worship yesterday morning, with one first-time visitor. We have a regular attender who is getting really good at bringing guests.

We also collected $260 in offerings.

Upcoming plans

Youth Bible classes continue through the end of January on Tuesday nights at the Brownwood Apts. Phase II Community Room, at which time we'll launch the Awana program.

We'll wrap up our series on the early life and ministry of Christ Jan. 25. The sermon series for February is "Extreme Home Makeover for Families." I'm considering doing the Jerusalem Priority in March.

Good Sunday at Grace Pointe

We had 16 in morning worship today, with one first-time guest. We also collected $102 in offerings.

I preached Matthew 3:13-17, and used the occasion of Jesus being baptized by John to preach on baptism. It was a good Sunday, with good worship and fellowship. It was also nice to be back in the double digits in attendance.

Tough week

We had one family out due to illness and another out due to a family event which left us with 6 in morning services.

We are in contact with new families in hopes that some will join. Things are looking up in 2009.

Sunday report

It's a blessing to be able to travel home and visit with family and friends for Christmas. We had one family that did just that, and some others weren't feeling well Sunday morning, which resulted in us having 8 in attendance. Still, things are moving in the right direction.

Putting the cart before the horse

It's true. I was guilty of this Sunday. For the past two weeks, the congregation at the Brownwood Housing Authority has been giving tithes and offerings. At the present time, we have no overhead as far as church operations go (no building, no utilities, etc). So, I recommended that we begin giving 10% to missions and spend the rest on Awanas. Several in the group were quite puzzled. So, I dropped the issue and told them we would work toward establishing an Awanas program by January.

I realized after services that my mistake was just assuming that everyone understood the purpose of a church and understood that a church should give to missions. We are still at the basics in this situation and I pushed just a little farther than the group was ready. So, in the weeks ahead, I'll continue discipling this group and working with them. As time goes on, I am confident that they will come together and function as a church.

That's the real challenge in organizing churches, btw. It's not getting people to show up and give tithes, it's getting them to understand why they are there, the role of the church and why that's important.

Wild and wooly Sundays

We had 16 in attendance this morning as I preached Matthew 1:18-25, discussing how that passage is a fulfillment of God's promise to save His people from their sins (those promises made in Isaiah 1:18 and Isaiah 53). We had 7 adults and 9 children.

The children got out of hand a couple of times, but that will happen on occasion. Much of the problem was due to a lack of classroom space. There is a possibility we can expand into another community room at the apartment complex, but there are some hoops we'll have to go through to get there. Either way, we're going to have to reassess our approach to children's ministry and get a better structure in place.

Tomorrow night, Bro. Jeremy Moore and I will have a Bible study. We are studying the doctrinal statement of the American Baptist Association.

Another good Sunday

We had 13 in morning worship Sunday, down a little, but it was a holiday weekend and there were illnesses. The core is sticking together, though. My new colleague, Jeremy, brought a message on Bringing Children up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. He will eventually step into the role of Children's minister at Grace Pointe.

We collected a good offering, and will decide how to budget our finances next Sunday. Top-of-the-list is missions. One of our goals is to be sending out missionaries in all phases of mission work within the next six years (local, state, interstate and foreign).

Sunday report

We had 17 in services this morning at the Brownwood Apts. Phase II. One came forward to join by Baptism.

Sunday Services Report

We had five in attendance at our Sunday services this morning at the Brownwood Apartments Phase II Community Room. We canvassed both Phase I and Phase II Saturday, but still only had our family in services this morning.

None-the-less, I still feel optimistic. Jessica and I are planning a backyard bash at the complex to get to know the residents, plus we are planning to canvass the surrounding neighborhoods and explore the possibility of doing Discovery Club in lieu of Sunday School. Despite our slow start, I feel like we can build a work here.

I preached on Isaiah 1:18.